Door mechanism for railway cars



Oct. 9, 1928.

W. E. WINE DOOR MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed April 16, 1923 2Shgets-Sheet wizzz Oct. 9, 1928. 1,686,590

W. E. WINE DOOR MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed April 16, 1923 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Get. 9, 1928.

UNITED STATES O ICE),

' WILLIAM E; Winn, OF'TOLEDO, oHIo. 7

DOOR MECHANISM'FOR RAILWAY cA-ns.

Application filed April 1e,'1s23.- 'fseri ai No. 32,414.

My invention relates to door mechanism for railway cars of thedrop'bottom or hopper type, and is particularly directed to theprovision ofstrong, simple, reliable andefiicient means for maintainingthe swinging doors ofthe car in'closed position.

Aprimajry' feature of the invention consists in constructing the hingeddoor with an outstanding marginal flange along an. edgethereof, and insecuring a channel member to the under side of said door in inverted Uposition, a flanged member, having a dOW11-" wardly offset portionpassing beneath said marginal flange and projecting beyond the yond anedge thereof, a hook or latch adapted to releasably engage said arm, and'means f'or pivotally mounting said latch upon astation ary part of thecar, the means bywhlch the latch is mounted upon the'car comprising a,

plurality of pivot brackets between which a portion of the latchextends, the inner-" most of said brackets having a plurality ofinwardly projecting bosses of unequal length -the longer of which isadapted to engage a side sheetof the car and the shorter of which isadapted to engage a reinforcing member secured to the outer face of saidsheet.

whereof is'pointed out in the claim s,- I Figure 1 is a view, partly inslde elevation and partly in vertical sectionQshowin'g a portion of thecar equipped with devices embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a detail sectional-view on the lineQ-EZ Fig. 1, looking inthe direction of the arrows, the hinged door being in closed positionand the door supporting latch r hook beinglocked against accidentalrelease. Figure 3 is a detail plan view of a por-. tion of the hingeddoor, illustrating the rela tion of the'door supporting arms thereto} aFigure dis a detail view, partly in velevja tion and partly insection,showlng therelation of the supporting arms to the door.1

In the drawings illustrating the preferred; embodiment of the invention,the scope Figure 5 is a-detail viewjshowing a modilied form of doorsupporting hook .or latch and its relation tothe cooperating doorsupportingarm, v V 7 a Figure 6 1s avlew corresponding toFig. 5

but, illustrating another modified form, of

door supporting hook. I

known type having one or more pairs of doors a The car shown in thedrawings for the pur- I pose'of illustrating the invention is 'off aWell 7 1 which arehinged to the car bodyQ'by means i of suitable hinges3. When in locked pos'ition these doors close the discharge opening ofthe hopper of the car, the said hopper in the form of car illustratedbeing constructed with hopper slope sheets 4; and side sheets 5. Thedoors lare preferably inclin'ed'so that they slope downwardly from theirhinged edges toward the. center of the hopper discharge opening, whichnot onlymcreases the carry:

ing-capa'city of the car but als' o renders the door supportingmechanism more accessible and at the-same time facilitatesthe closing ofthe doors by avoiding the necessity of lifting them to the horizontalposition. The" lower end of the sidesheet5bordering the hopper dischargeopening of the car is preferably sloped or inclined to correspond to theslope of the"'c loors when in their closed positions;

and the said sheet is prefera'bly reinforcedy at sai-ddischarge openingby a bar or plate 6 riveted to the outer face of said sheet andconforming to theslopes of the bottom edge thereOfQ f Each of the' doorsLjwhichniay advantageously be formed with marginal stiffening flanges 7,is reinforced adjacent its edge ,re.'-

mote from its hinges by means of a flanged member 8 of channel crosssect1onsecurely r vetedto the under side of'the door and pref- Rigidlysecured to the opposite ends of the flanged reinforcing member 8withinthe channelthereof are door supporting arms 9 which project beyondthe. correspondingly adjacent ends of said flanged member and 8X4 tendbeyond the respectively"adjacent edges;

of the door'l. 7 The door supporting'ar'ms 9, which I constitutebrackets for cooperating withlatchmechanism carried by a stationary partof thecar preferably are formed as flanged members of angle iron crosssection,

thus enabling rolled commercialangle irons to beq .usecl for thispurpose, although the erably arranged in inverted Upjosition, J'Theflanged member 8 may advantageously 'eX- tendsubstantially thefull'width of the door 1 members 9 may be formed as castings if desired.Each of the flanged supporting arms 9 is offset downwardly at its outerend as indicated at 10 so as to pass beneath the adja cent marginalflange 7 of the door; and the depending leg-of each door sup'p'oring arm'may be provided with an aperture 11 for receiving a removable leveror'prying bar that ,be employed in forcing the doors to closed position.The procumbent leg 12 of the angle iron bracket 9 affords a seat adaptedto be releasably engaged by a movable hook or, latch which serves toprevent the 'door from executin an oa enin movement.- It

i .{j a

V will be perceived that the elements of the dobr locking mechanismwhich aref'carriedby the door ''are so formed and arranged that they arecon'ipaetly disposed, easily appliechsimple and strong in' constructionand eiiiciently rein- TEOIfCGthG door. The means for cooperating withthe respective'supporting arms 9 to sustain the doors against openingmovements preferably involve a plurality of latches or hooks 13 whichare; pivotally mounted upon a station ary part of the car, as forexample, by. means f therespective rivets 14. "Each book 13 1S formedwith a shoulder or ledge 15v adapted to "extend under andengage theadjacentflange of the supporting arm 9 carried by the door with which itis associated. The

hook may also advantageously be provided with an auxiliary or secondaryledge 16 which, as shown in Fig. 1, is alsoadapted to cooperate with theupper leg or ledge 12 of the adjacent supporting arm, means thus beingprovided for supporting the door in a partially closed position. Itisdesirable to provide the hooks 13 with auxiliary ledges 16 because, asis well known, the swinging doors of hopper cars may very readily beraised'until they nearly assume closed position, butby reason of warpingof the doors considerable force is usually requ red to bring themtofully closed position. By providing the hooks with the auxiliaryv ledges16 the doors may conveniently. be brought'to a par tiallyclosedpositionand'then may be forced toiiinal'clos'ed position bythe use of aremovable lever or prying bar inserted through the aperture 11 oftheapp'ropriate'door supportingarm9. v The upper portion's'of the hooks 18extend between bracket members 17 and 18, respectively, which arerigidly riveted to the ear.

. The lowerportion of the innermost bracketlS overlaps thebar or plate 6reinforcing the lower edge of'the side sheet 5 at the hopper dischargeopeni-ng','and I'the said bracket is provided upon its inner side with aplurality of 'iiiwardlyextending bosses 19 and 20, respectively. .Theupperbosses 19 are of sufficient length to extendover the reinforcingbar 6 and engagethesh'eet 5 of the car-,fwhilt: the shorter bossesQOengage the outer face sheet.

of said bar. Theseveral bosses are perforated to receive rivets by whichthe brackets are secured in place. The inner bracket member 18whichserves as a filler for spacing the hooks outwardly from thereinforcing plate 6 is, as shown, preferably made of greater hei ht atits center than towards its ends, thus enabling it to functionefiiciently as a beam for distributing the load from the door 7 books tothereinforoing plate and the hopper v Pivotally mounted between thebrackets 17 and 18'andoperatively associated with therespeetive hooks 13are looking cams 21 which when the hooks 13 support the door in closedposition may be rotated so asjto stand behind the hooks and preventtheir accidental release.

.The door supporting hooks illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 are unprovidedwith auxiliary ledges. In the construction shown Fig. 5'

the hook 22 is provided below its shoulder or loeking'ledge 2'3 with ashoulder Q twhich, when the door'is in closed position,is-s"paced fromthe depending leg of the door supporting arm 9 a distance suiiicient'topermit intro-' duction of a b'arfso asto enable thehook to be readilyreleased fromsupporting engage-.

ment with the said arm.

' The hook illustrated is provided with a shoulder'26 for cooperatingwith thedoorsupporting time to retain thedoor is closed position. Inthis form of hook, whose lower end 27. is curved "so that thedoor arm 9iii'alv readily slide along it in the operation of closing the door,anout standing lug 'orsho'ulder 28 is provided to form a seat enablingabar] to be used for releasing the hook from thedoor supporting arm. I asheretofore, described.-

I claim 1 v 1. In a bar door mechanism, the co nbina tion with 'a hingeddoor 'havingan outstandin 6 likewise ing marginal flange, of a channelmember secured to the under side thereof'in inverted V U position withthe legs of the channel substantially normal to the door; an angle ironsecured to said channel member within the channel, thereof, saidangle ion bem bent intermediateits ends, one end thereof projectandprojectingbeyond an edge thereof, a

hook adapted to engage said arm, and 11192118 for'p votally mountingsaid hooku 'n a stationary partof the car,saidlast named means involvinga pluralityot pivot brackets between which a portion of said hookextends.

the inner of said brackets being provided with a plurality of inwardlyextending bosses of unequal length, the longer. being adapted to engagea side sheet of the car and the shorter being adapted to engage areinforc ng bar se-. cured to the outer face 0t said sheet.

3. In car door mechanism, the combina tion with theside sheet of a carhopper, said .sheet' having a downwardly and inwardly inclined portion,and a vertically extending portion below the latter, of a plurality ofhingeddoors for closing the discharged opening of said hopper, saiddoors extending out wardly beyond said vertical portion. of the hopperside sheet, a plurality of hooks piv otally mounted upon the car body,means mounted on said doors adapted to be engaged by said hooks tosupport said doors in closed position, a reinforcing member secured .tothe outer face of said hopper side sheet, a

member interposed between said reinforcing,

member and said hooks for spacing the latter from said reinforcingmember, said member having inwardly extending bosses engageable tionwith the side sheet of a carhopper hav- 'ing a vertically extendinglower portion, of a plurality of doors torclosing the discharge openingof said hopper, said doors when closed being in inclined planes and eachhav-' ing an edge extending outwardly beyond said vertically disposedportion of the hopper side sheet, a reinforcing member secured to.

the'outer face of said side sheet adjacent the lowerec of thelatter, aplurality of pivotally mounted hooks, means mounted on said doorsadaptedto be engaged said hooks to support said doors in closed position, afiller member interposed between said reinforcing member and said hooks,said filler member being provided with a plate portion. having spacingthe hooks from the-side sheet and means extending through'said hooks andfiller member for forming pivots for said hooks. v I I 5. A railway'car'having a hopper pro 'vided with means reinforcing the discharge openingthereof, a door for closing said opening, means for supporting the doorinclosed position-involving a member fixed to the, door and a hookmember pivoted to the carbody,

anda filler castinginterposed between the re inforcing means and hook,said casting hav-' ing a plate-like portion and a plurality of bossesextending inwardly therefrom toward the hopper for'spacing the hookoutwardly of the latter, said'bos'ses being arranged for en gagementwiththe reinforcing means and the hopper sheet and being so proportionedthat the plate portion of the casting will be disclosed in a planesubstantially parallel to the plane of operationor" the pivoted hook.

' 6. A railway car having'a lading discharge opening, a door for closingsaid open ng movable to openpos tion under the influence of gravity, afixed member carried by the door, and a movable member pivoted to thecar body having a ledge engageable with the fixed member for supportingthe door in closed position, said movable .member being pro:

vided'below the ledge witha portion for ac commodatinga removable leveradapted to pry the l atterto door releasing position, the

said portion being fashioned so thatthe lever may be free to movedownwardly whenthe door gravitates to open'position.

.7. A railway car having a lading dicharge plane having a recess:torreceiving a 'removablelever adapted to pry the hook to doorreleasing position, the recess being so formed that the lever may befree to. move downward 'ly when the door gravitates to open position.bosses pro ect1ng inwardly therefrom tor Intestimony where'ofI mysignature.

WILLIAM E. WINE.

